Goodyear welting



Jan. 22, 1929. 1,699,979

H. LYON GOODYEAR WELT I N6 Filed Jan. 7. 1928 lNI/ENTOR/ 4-rro NE) Patented Jan. 22, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,999,979 PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY LYON, OF HOLBROOK, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO PERLEY E. BARBOUR, OF QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, DOING BUSINESS AS HARBOUR WELTING COMPANY,

OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

GOODYEAR WELTING.

Application filed January 7, 1928.

This invention relates to the manufacture of welting and more particularly to welting for use in Goodyear welt shoes.

Heretofore it has been the practice to sever a fillet of welting leather and then separately groove and bevel the two strips thus obtained. It is highly important that the characteristic features of the inner edge of the welting, i. e. the groove and the various forms of bevel, be definite and unvarying in position and dimensions throughout the length of the strand. Such a result is impossible to obtain using the welt grooving and beveling machines that are available commercially because of the ununiform texture of the stockforming. the strip being operated upon. Some parts of the hide are ver soft and others very firm and in a strip 0 fifty to one hundred yards in length these differences in texture will be repeated many times. l/Vhile the beveling knife will naturally cut through the firm stock at a proper distance from the groove to provide sufficient leather for a solid and strong anchorage of the inseam, when a soft spot is reached the leather will crowd or jamb in front of the knife because of its lack of resistance, whereupon the knife digsand cuts the bevel on too far. The anchorage thus is lost and a weakness is developed that is bound to make itself known by a weak inseam when such welting is built into a shoe. To guard against this it is the present practice to make an allowance at the inner side of the groove,

i. e. the groove is out further awayfrom the inner edge than is dictated by good prac-' tice, but this reduces the width of the grain extension and makes the welting less desirable or requires a wider strip to compensate which means more leather, greater initial cost, and more waste at the inseam trimming operation.

The object of the present invention is to perfect the manufacture of Goodyear welting by an improved method of forming the groove and bevel that insuresa groove of uniform distance from the inner edge of the completed strand, whatever variations there may be in the texture of the leather being operated upon, and consequently a uniform grain extension of maximum width.

To the achievement of this object the invention comprises the novel method of manufacturing Goodyear welting hereinafter-described and" then particularly defined by the Serial No. 245,208.

appended claims, an understanding of which will be aided by the accompanying drawings, in which: D Figure 1 is a View, in perspective, of a portlon of a fillet of welting leather from which two welt strips are to be produced;

Fig. 2 is a view, in perspective, of the fillet of Fig. 1 after grooving for both of the welt strips and partly severing;

Flg. 3 is a view, in perspective, of thefillet of Fig. 1 in reversed both of the strips and position after, beveling and completely severing;

N Fig. 4 is a view,-in perspective, of one end I I ated upon by a triplex knife characterized by a flat central blade for makingthe central incision 12, that is flanked by two curved blades for making the two grooves Hand 16. Preferably the knife is a drag knife, or dead, while the fillet is fed continuously past it. The relation of the three blades is such that all three cuts are made at the same time, While the two grooves are made at equal distances from the central cut 12 and, therefore, also at equal distances from the two edges'of the fillet 10. The three blades of the knife are in fixed relation to each other so that the central blade supports the stock at each side thus insuring two grooves 14 and 16 always in an unvarying position relative to each other and to the flesh sides of the two welt strips that are being formed by the central cut 12. The central blade of the triplex knife is so proportioned that, although the two side blades cut completely formed grooves, it does not completely severthe fillet leaving it joined by a short integral portion 18 of the grain. Provision is made for holding the fillet 10 down upon the knives for receiving the full accuracy of their cuts therein, and also for guiding the fillet and preventing it from wandering while receiving the cuts.

7 It will be observed that both grooves and the fillet dividing out are made simultaneously and hence the width, or margin 20 (Fig. 4:), of stock between the fillet dividing out and the inner edge of each groove must be uniform for each welt strip throughout the en tire length of the fillet regardless of its texture. Thus the curved blades may be set to give the least margin 20 (Fig. 4) compatible with the required strength for anchorage of the inseam, thus to securethe greatest po sible Width of grain extension 22 (Fig. 4).

The final step in the manufacture of the welting consists in forming both bevels 24- and 26 (Fig. 3) simultaneously and at the same-time completely dividing the fillet 10 into two welt strips." Preferably, but not necessarily, the position of the fillet is reversed so that its grain side may be pressed down in position to be cut centrally by a channelling knife. For producing the plain bevel illustrated, this knife has a V shaped edge, the two blades; being placed at any angle that may be required for cutting the two bevels 24 and 26. The depth to which the channeling .knife cuts is always greater than the-thickness of the-unsevered grain material.18 at the center of the fillet so that'the formationof the channel cutnecessarily removes this connectingv element bet'weenthe two strips. Thus two acurately grooved and beveled welt strands 28 and 30 result from this second cutting operation.

In sewing the inseam the needle of the welter should pierce the grain side of the welt at the angle 32 (Fig. 4), or at least not outside of this point, so as to preserve" the grain extension 22. The cutting of both bevels before the fillet is severed'into two strips, permits a setting of the beveling knife that will accurately determine such a relation of each bevel to'its respective-groove as will insure a piercing by the Welter needle substantially through the angle 32-, because the central portion of the fillet stock that is being removed is firmly held and prevented from spreading in front of the knife, or crowdingto either side. to spoilthe accuracy of the out. i By practicing the method of this invention a grove that is a uniform distance from the inner edge of the welt strip is guaranteed notwithstanding a variation in texture ofthe stock from soft to hard'and vice versa. This is due to cutting bothgroovesfatthe same time and always in the same place throughout-the continuance of the cutting operation, and also both bevels at the same time. I believe that I am the first to discover the importance of this in manufacturing welt-ing,

Those skilled in the art will understand from the foregoing description that any width of fillet may be used instarting production of the welt strands, this being mere duplication, and that the size or shape of the groves and bevels and their relation to the dimensions of. the welt strip, and toeach other, maybe varied within reasonably wide limits to suit the desire of any shoe manufacturer, or the needs of the particular. type of Goodyear weltin'g-that isto be produced.

While leather? is herein named as the material being operated upon this nomenclature is not intended as a limitation as to the material which might be used. On the contrary the method which I desire to protect is independent of material except that leather is foundto be particularly advantageous in the manufacture of fine Goodyear welting.

Having thus described thenovel method and one mode of practicing it when employing its underlying principle, yet recognizing thatsome'modifications and changes may be madefwit hout departing from itsspirit and scope, what is claimed-as new, is:-

1. The method of making welting which includes the steps cf partially severing a fillet of welting material through its thickness into two welt strips, and cutting two grooves,-0ne for each strip, and-then cutting two bevels, onefor each strip, at one opera-' tion and simultaneously completing the severance of the filletl 2; The method-ofmaking welting which includes the steps ofcutting centrally and longitudinally of a fillet of wielting material part way through the thickness thereof from one face, cutting a groove in said face at each side of. an parallelto said central cut, and cutting a V-shaped channel longitudinally in the other face of said fillettthe apex of said V-shaped channel-being atthe center of said fillet and farther from the channeled face than thet-hickness of the ,unsevered material left by the first'named central cut..

3. The method ofmaking welting which includes the steps of partially severing a filletof welting materialint'o two welt strips by a central incisiOn in oneface thereof, and cutting a groove ateach side of said incision while the intervening stockis sup ported by the incising blade, and completing the two welt strips by a central cut in the opposite face of the fillet'deep enough to complete the severance of the fillet.

l. The method of making welting which comprises incising the flesh face of a welting leather fillet centrally to a depth which leaves the two partially severed strips still connected by the grainfof the leather and simultaneously cutting two grooves in said flesh face oneat-each side ofsaidincision, and-finally simultaneously cutting two opposed andv joined bevels centrally on the grain face of said fillet the depth of'the beveling cut being such that said I grain (3on nection between/the two welt-strips is. in cluded thematerial of thetriangular string that is removed;

5.. The "metliodgof making welting which comprises cutting two longltudmal-grooves in the flesh side of a welting leather fillet and simultaneously incisin the fillet centrally between said grooves rom the flesh to the grain but not through said grain, and then removing said unsevered grain by a central longitudlnal channel cut the flesh.

6. The method of dividing a welting fillet into two strands of Goodyear welting which consists of double rooving one face thereof longitudinally while simultaneously cutting partially through its thickness centrally and midway between said grooves, and then cutting a string of triangular cross-section centrally from the opposite face thereof the altitude of the triangle being greater than the tfziliickness of the unsevered material of the let.

7. The method of making two Goodyear welting strands simultaneously which consists in feeding a welting fillet first past a triplex knife that cuts two parallel grooves rom the grain to and an intermediate slit centrally in one face thereof while gaging said knife for operation on said fillet so that the grooves are completely formed but the slit ends short of the opposite face of the fillet, and then past a V-shaped knife while gaging said knife to cut centrally in said opposite face of the fillet to a depth sufficient to intersect said slit.

8. The method of making welting which includes the steps of cutting centrally and longitudinally of a fillet of welting material part way through the thickness thereof from one face, cutting a groove in said face at each side of said central cut, and cutting a channel longitudinally in the other face of said fillet opposite said central cut, said channelling out having a depth greater than the thickness of the material left unsevered by saidcentral cut.

HARRY LYON. 

